Upsampling a composition: Deke's Techniques

Upsampling is one of the most misunderstood topics in Adobe Photoshop. When you increase your image size without upsampling, you’re not increasing the number of pixels in that image; you’re simply spreading them over a larger area. As a result, you can end up with a pixelated, low-resolution image. But when you upsample your image, Photoshop interpolates or makes up extra pixels based on the information in the surrounding pixels. It’s not magic, not a special formula. But your mileage may vary. Photoshop treats different types of layers (backgrounds, text, Smart Objects, etc.) differently when you scale. Knowing how the layers in your image will react to upsampling can help you make adjustments beforehand that will result in a better final image. In this episode of Deke’s Techniques, Deke explains exactly how different layers react to resizing, and then shows you how to use the Median and Gaussian Blur filters to smooth out problem areas in an image before you resize it.